Peter Som

Popsicle. Postcard. Mimosa. Pool. Flamingo.…You barely had to venture past the evocative descriptions of looks in the run-of-show list at Peter Som to get that vacation glow. Backstage, the designer ticked off his specific inspirations: Miami Beach, Peggy Guggenheim, op art. "I was thinking about bringing joy to clothing," he said. "To me, that's what fashion is all about." Certainly Som has reason to be happy. His business seems to have steadied itself after a major financial wobble last year. And on the runway the mood was positively giddy. Som still loves to mix prints with a variety of colors and textures; many times, the mix came all in one piece—like the peppy blocks of tweed patched into a gray cardie and khaki jacket. Alongside a trippy marbleized motif, a postcard print, and gently sparkling floral brocades in this candy-colored rotation were simple tees and dresses cut from a fresh-looking over-dyed snakeskin. This wasn't the only clue that this pet of the uptown lady set is now courting downtown girls as well. There were shirts with bright contrasting collars, some worn under pinaforelike dresses, as well as lots of leg in thigh-grazing shifts and shorts. Those legs were further lengthened by extremely high platform-wedge Mary Janes from Charlotte Olympia, a shoe fashion fetishists will surely fantasize about. The future is looking so much brighter for Som than it did 18 months ago that he just might want to hang onto a pair of those Peggy G. shades for himself.